Blue Feathers watercolour wins People’s Choice

Wren McDowell, Blue Feathers, watercolour on paper, 45cm x 33cm.

Wren McDowell’s evocative watercolour, Blue Feathers, is the People’s Choice of 15 artworks featured in the ArtWalk x Luminance Young Artists Exhibition.

Close to 3,000 people visited the Port Macquarie exhibition between 1 - 7 June 2026. Of these, 250 voted for the People’s Choice.

Wren McDowell, aged 14, lives on the NSW Mid North Coast.

“I have always loved making art,” Wren says. “As a kid I remember being inspired by the illustrations in children’s books. Art has always been a way for me to find serenity and stillness in a chaotic world.

Wren and Oneewa McDowell, with Blue Feathers.

“Blue feathers feels like a very personal painting because my calling for art has always been nature and birds. I love to illustrate movement and shifting forms in nature, through expression and texture and body language in a way that no string of words can capture.”

The 2026 ArtWalk x Luminance Young Artists Exhibition was open to young people aged 12 - 24 on the Mid North Coast. It was free to enter, open to painting, photography, mixed media.

The exhibition featured Indigenous perspectives, portraits, landscapes, abstracts and still life.

ArtWalk, Wauchope Vets, and Alice’s Art Craft and Paper Supplies generously supported this exhibition.

Co-judges were artist Wendy Stokes and Luminance Gallery curator Dominic O’Grady.

“We’re not the country’s richest art prize but that’s OK because it’s not about the money, it’s about opportunity to exhibit and connect with audiences,” Dr O’Grady said.

“ArtWalk provides an additional opportunity for artists to connect with community. This exhibition enables young local artists to be part of that. It also offers a pathway to young people who’d like to develop their art and build an exhibition history.”

See the Judges’ Choice and Highly Commended artworks in this exhibition.